Yanjingy Girl
by thai.MI.Pride
Summary: Set in Emelan 2 years after WotE. Briar is home again, preparing for his first trip back to his home country of Sotat. Then he, by chance, meets Savi, a troubled, young Yanjingy girl, and gets a huge kick back to humbleness. Possible BriarOC.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: ** Yeah, okay, here's the usual, boring disclaimer. Emelan, Yanjing, and their languages and culture do not belong to me, but are the result of Tamora Pierce's incredible mind. However, Savita Varanyi is completely mine and this story is my brainchild, so keep your hands off of them. :D Peace out, A2…

**Yanjing Girl**

_Chapter One_

It was a good few hours after noon before Briar Moss finally enough time to go find his midday meal. The 20-year-old mage had wandered around the Summersea market next to Winding Circle for several long, hungry minutes before he had found a satisfactory place to eat. Settling down in his niche right outside the Fire Temple practice grounds, Briar watched with interest as a bunch of Fire Temple novices went over some hand-to-hand combat.

_That's all wrong,_ Briar thought, half amusedly, half critically. His eyes followed the movements of one particular girl as she made wrong move after wrong move. _She's doing it all wrong._

The girl finally made the most fatal mistake a combatant could make and turned her back to her opponent. The man she had just been fighting reached out and grabbed the girl's arm and effortlessly flipped her over his waist.

_Ouch,_ Briar winced as the girl slammed into the ground. Her opponent walked away with his companions, laughing coldly.

Briar popped the last of his roll into his mouth and casually strolled over to lean on the low railing enclosing the practice field, his eyes on the girl lying on the ground, glaring up at the sky. Briar stood silently, taking in the girl's appearance. She seemed to be a few years younger than him, maybe 17. Her figure was slim, but she was short; at least a hand's length shorter than him. Strands of straight, blackish-brown hair had escaped from the loose bun at the back of her neck. Her almond-shaped eyes stood out strangely in a face of Asian-colored skin. She was clad in the typical white novice robes, but had slipped a pair of breeches on underneath. The girl lay motionless for a minute before picking herself up again, brushing off her robes. Turning around, she jumped as she noticed Briar for the first time.

"What do you want, boy?" the girl scowled fiercely. Briar smiled as he saw the muscles in her legs tense up. She was preparing herself for a fight.

"If you're expecting a tussle, you shouldn't stand like that, all leaning on one side," he told her, ignoring her glare. "You have to be balanced, so your opponent can't knock you over so easy."

Briar climbed over the low fence and stood in front of her, his weight balanced equally on both legs. The girl's scowl deepened.

"You Emelans are all the same, thinking your ways are the only right ones." Her angry voice had a slight lilt in it, as if it were not her native language that she was speaking.

"First of all, it's Emelanese. You call the people here Emelanese." Briar casually rolled up his sleeves, not looking at her. "Secondly, I'm not. I'm from Sotat, originally." Briar looked up and flashed her a wide grin. He put his hands on his hips. "Try and knock me over."

The girl looked startled at the abrupt change of subject, but returned to being moody. "You really didn't need to ask!"

She started forward, thrusting out a hand to shove him in the chest, but Briar caught it and held on. The girl pulled back, but he didn't let go.

"What did you say your name was?" he asked, his hand still firmly grasping hers.

"I didn't!" She gave another tug of her hand.

"Well, now I'm asking. What's your name?"

She gave him a scorching look and spat, "Savi. Savita Varanyi."

Briar's mouth dropped open at her last name. "Varanyi? But that name's a Yanjingyi--"

Savi finally tugged her hand out of his grasp and gave him a hard shove, making him stumble. Briar caught her foot as she raised her knee to kick out at his head. He stared. Savi grunted and twisted her foot from his grasp and then swung her other foot at his heels. Briar leapt out of the way and threw a quick rabbit punch at her stomach, but she blocked. She retaliated, giving a swing at his arm, missing by so little that she brushed the sleeve of his shirt. The two moved quickly and silently, using moves completely different from the kind the other Fire Temple novices had used. Finally, catching a weak move Briar had made, Savi leapt and pinned him down, back against the dirt.

"Impressive, Yanjing girl," Briar panted, surprised and slightly annoyed with himself. "Where'd you learn to fight like that?"

"Back home, _this_ was the kind of fighting _everyone_ did." She was also out of breath.

"Oh?" With a quick twist, Briar moved out from underneath her and placed his knee on her stomach, forcing her to lie flat on the ground for the second time in minutes.

"You are so annoying." Sari glared up at him. For the first time, Briar noticed the girl's eyes. Eyes that were forest-green flecked with gold stood out from her Eastern features. Green eyes that stared back at green eyes, so alike, but different.

Briar shook his head and blinked, hoping he hadn't stared. He stood up, brushed his trousers off, and then held out a hand to Savi. She stood up and put her free hand on her hip, still looking at him. "You're good at this kind of fighting, you know," Briar told her frankly. "But you could definitely learn something about _our_ kind of hand-to-hand."

"Whatever, _eknub_." Savi tried to take her hand from his grasp, but, again, found herself stuck.

Briar twisted her arm so she couldn't pull away and pulled her closer to him. Her head only came up to his shoulder. Savi looked up into his laughing gray-green eyes and glared.

"If you want my help, stop by my mate's place. If not, I won't be so nice next time you get beat up by us 'Emelans'." Briar told her teasingly.

She raised an eyebrow. "Are you flirting with me?"

For an answer, he grinned, untwisted her arm, and kissed her hand. Savi felt something being pressed into her hand as he let go of it. Briar nodded in farewell, and walked away, whistling.

Savi watched him walk off, and then shook her head. "_Men_." She whispered. When she unclenched the hand he had just held, a scrap of paper fell from it. Curiously, Savi picked it up and spread it out. Scrawled on the soiled piece of paper was a name and address. _"__Briar Moss, Number 6 Cheeseman Street",_ She read interestedly. _Well, since he's been_ sooo _nice, I might have to pay Master Moss a little visit._


	2. Chapter 2

**Okay, folks!** After a total of 14 hours after I posted the first chapter, I'm posting the second. If I keep this up, this story'll be a whole novel by next month! Yay, me!

**Oh, and _mucho gracias_ to xWaitingxForxThexEndx for my first ever Fanfiction review!**

_Chapter Two_

Number 6 Cheeseman Street was a handsome, 3-story house and forge. The verdant and attractive garden in front of the house coupled with the intricate ironwork on the front gate gave the impression that a wealthy noble family inhabited it. The small forge protruded from the side of house, its chimneystack billowing smoke, and windows glowing from the hearty fire within.

Inside the forge, a tall, dark young woman worked on a copper window-frame, deep in concentration. Occasionally, she looked up from her work to pump a bellows to keep the fire roaring. She jumped and started as Briar came strolling into the forge, hand in his pockets.

"Hi, Daj'," he greeted his foster-sister.

"What've you been up to, boy?" Daja asked suspiciously. Briar shrugged and she raised her eyebrows, but did not say anything. As Daja bent over her work again, he strolled over to pump the bellows for her.

"Where's Coppercurls and Sandry?" Briar pumped steadily, being careful not to overheat the piece of copper in the fire.

Daja grunted as she twisted, then welded together, two pieces of metal. "Tris is upstairs, tinkering with some spell or another. Where our Duchess is, I have no clue. She mentioned something about 'more blasted paperwork', though."

"Oh," Briar nodded. "Well, after the flooding last summer, I bet the whole Citadel's busy. Sandry's probably stuck fixing most of it up."

"That, or she's decided that we _still_ don't have enough fancy suits and she'll make them herself," his sister rolled her eyes.

A plump, redheaded young woman walked into the forge as Briar snorted with laughter.

"Nice to see _someone's_ having fun." Trisana Chandler said grumpily. Briar grinned at her wolfishly.

"What's gotten your skirts up in a twist?"

"Nothing. Just another gods-curst spell, is all," his foster-sister scowled. "This wretched academic is as dry as dust! I'm surprised Niko hasn't died of boredom after all these years of working those confounded spells and charms!"

"Briar and Daja rolled their eyes at each other, used to the litany Tris gave every time she had trouble with her academic magic training.

Tris glared at her siblings, then noticed Briar's shirt. "How is it that you can still be so ignorant, despite the fact that you've been through enough to age a toddler? How _did_ you get so dirty?" She shook the back of his shirt to shake off the dirt and dust.

"Oh, that." Briar stood still as Daja helped brush it off. The dirt slipped off his clothes as easily as if his shirt was made of glass. Their foster-sister, Sandry, had spun, woven, and sewed all of the fours' garments by hand, using her cloth-magic to make them water-, stain-, and wrinkle-proof.

"What have you been doing?" Daja asked, slightly reprimanding.

"I got into a little tussle with a girl." Briar shrugged, and then grinned when both girls looked startled. "Not _that_ kind of tussle!"

"Oh?" Tris sounded skeptical.

Briar sighed, used to his sisters' reactions to his affairs with other ladies. "I just saw her getting beat up by a couple of novices from the Fire Temple. I offered to teach her a thing or two about hand-to-hand combat, but she didn't seem to appreciate the offer too much. She started a fight. Ended it too. She actually got me pinned down." Briar smiled. "Destroyed my dignity and stole my heart within the half hour. Amazing girl, that Savi."

Tris and Daja snorted. Briar was confused, and slightly annoyed, that they weren't taking him seriously. He had actually meant what he had said. For once.


End file.
